Sociology

SEVENTEENTH EDITION

Chapter 26
Living in the twenty-first
century

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Examining social change
Social change can be examined with both positive and negative
consequences:

1. Social change is ubiquitous and ceaseless

2. Social change can be intentional but it is usually unplanned
3. Social change often generates conflict, tension and
controversy.
4. Some changes matter more than others.

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Causes of Social Change
1. Ideas and Change

2. Economic change

3. Cultural change

4. Ideas and conflict

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Summing Up: Traditional and Modern
Societies: The Big Picture
Traditional and Modern Societies: The Big Picture
Elements of Society Traditional Societies
Cultural Patterns blank
Values Homogeneous; sacred character;
few subcultures and
countercultures
Norms Great moral significance; little
tolerance of diversity
Time orientation Present linked to past
Technology Preindustrial; human and animal
energy
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Modern Societies
blank
Heterogeneous; secular
character; many subcultures
and
countercultures
Variable moral significance; high
tolerance of diversity
Present linked to future
Industrial; advanced energy
sources
 Summing Up: Traditional and Modern
Societies: The Big Picture
Traditional and Modern Societies: The Big Picture
Elements of Society Traditional Societies Modern Societies
Social Structure blank blank
Status and role Few statuses, most ascribed; few Many statuses, some ascribed and
specialized roles some achieved; many
specialized roles
Relationships Typically primary; little anonymity or Typically secondary; much anonymity
privacy and privacy
Communication Face to face Face-to-face communication
supplemented by mass media
Social control Informal gossip Formal police and legal system
Social stratification Rigid patterns of social inequality; Fluid patterns of social inequality;
little mobility high mobility
Gender patterns Pronounced patriarchy; women’s lives Declining patriarchy; increasing
centered on the home number of women in the paid
labor force
Settlement patterns Small-scale; population typically small Large-scale; population typically large
and widely dispersed in and concentrated in
rural villages and small towns cities

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 Summing Up: Traditional and Modern
Societies: The Big Picture
Traditional and Modern Societies: The Big Picture
Elements of Society Traditional Societies
Social Institutions blank
Economy Based on agriculture; much manufacturing
in the home; little white-collar work
State Small-scale government; little state
intervention in society
Family Extended family as the primary means of
socialization and economic production
Religion Religion guides worldview; little religious
pluralism
Education Formal schooling limited to elites
Health High birth and death rates; short life
expectancy because of low standard of
living and simple medical technology
Social Change Slow; change evident over many
generations
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Modern Societies
blank
Based on industrial mass production; factories
become centers of production; increasing
white-collar work
Large-scale government; much state
intervention in society
Nuclear family retains some socialization
functions but is more a unit of consumption
than of production
Religion weakens with the rise of science;
extensive religious pluralism
Basic schooling becomes universal, with
growing proportion receiving advanced
education
Low birth and death rates; longer life
expectancy because of higher standard of
living and sophisticated medical technology
Rapid; change evident within a single
generation
Summing Up: Two Interpretations of
Modernity

Two Interpretations of Modernity

Blank Mass Society Class Society

Process of modernization Industrialization; growth of Rise of capitalism

bureaucracy
Effects of modernization Increasing scale of life; rise Expansion of the capitalist
of the state and other formal economy; persistence of
organizations social inequality

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